Officer in arrest video has prompted 14 complaints

Bronson Smith, center, and Brandon Falish, both of Green Bay, discuss police behavior May 2 while standing in front of the Green Bay police station on Adams Street. Smith's sign reads: "Fire officer Derek Wicklund, end the cycle of violence!!" The protest was a response to a YouTube video released showing Wicklund making an arrest that some believe was too forceful.
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The officer involved in a controversial arrest posted on YouTube has prompted 14 citizen complaints since he joined the Green Bay Police Department in 2002, including five claiming he used excessive force.

But the department’s investigations of complaints against Officer Derek Wicklund, 37, have not found evidence to substantiate any of the complaints, according to records obtained by Press-Gazette Media.

Wicklund, a 12-year veteran, has been at the center of a controversy since a video was posted to YouTube showing him on April 19 taking 29-year-old Joshua Wenzel to the ground outside Stir-Ups Parlor & Saloon and striking him. Wenzel was ticketed on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; his case is pending in city court.

A departmental investigation of the Wenzel arrest, which was caught on camera and posted online, found that Wicklund did not use excessive force, according to a source familiar with the results. Police officials in May sent their findings to the state Department of Justice for review. They said they would not comment publicly until DOJ completes its analysis of the city’s findings.

He has been moved to administrative duty during the investigation.

The complaints and commendations

In 2013, a man arrested for drunken driving claimed Wicklund “slammed me so hard into my car that it broke or bruised ribs,” applied handcuffs so tight that they left marks and detained him for 11 hours.

In an email to police, Christopher Piepenburg, then 38, called Wicklund’s actions “brutality” and said the police report of the arrest had “many contradictions.” Lt. Chad Ramos said police investigated and ruled the allegation “a false complaint.”

A downtown bar owner’s 2009 complaint that Wicklund was needlessly pushing people was “not sustained.” A 2006 complaint by Green Bay resident Samantha Flowers, then 35, accusing Wicklund of kicking her during an arrest was ruled “unsubstantiated.”

Capt. William Galvin, who has supervised Wicklund, described the officer as proactive. That kind of officer often makes more arrests than someone who is less active, but it sometimes prompts more complaints, Galvin said.

“If something was happening to my family, that’s the kind of guy I want out there,” Galvin told Press-Gazette Media. “Could he have better people skills? Maybe. But he was (assigned to) my district, and I want him back.”

From 2002 through 2008, Wicklund received 22 commendations for activities ranging from making drug arrests and helping to foil a robbery to participating in the department’s annual “Shop With a Cop” program. In a 2007 letter, a Pennsylvania couple praised Wicklund for helping them replace Green Bay Packers tickets that had been stolen.

Highlights of other complaints against Wicklund and the outcomes:

• The department exonerated Wicklund in 2008 after Appleton resident Marvin Keys accused the officer of twice pulling him over while Keys was driving.

• Also in 2008, Wicklund was exonerated after Altoona resident Gregory Gillett complained that Wicklund had phoned Gillett and threatened to arrest him if Gillett showed up at a relative’s wedding.

• In 2012, a woman visiting from Texas said Wicklund wouldn’t let her press charges after her nose was broken in a dispute. The woman told Capt. John Balza she wanted to file a complaint. But police said she did not respond when officers followed up.

State’s review ongoing

The city attorney’s office provided records to Press-Gazette Media related to eight of the 14 complaints filed against Wicklund. The city has yet to provide documents from six of the complaints as well as records explaining the outcomes.

The city had not received the results of DOJ’s review on Friday. Officials expect to be able to announce the results of their investigation and DOJ’s review in mid-July.

A 2006 report by the U.S. Justice Department reviewed a year’s worth of complaints nationwide. It found that local police agencies received 7.5 force complaints per year for every 100 sworn officers they employ. Larger, urban departments tend to receive more complaints than smaller departments in suburban or rural areas.

Of the excessive force complaints, about one in 12 was found to be legitimate, the justice department found.

Green Bay has about 180 sworn officers. About 35 complaints are filed against officers in a year, Ramos said. Green Bay area residents are most likely to allege a lack of courtesy, though excessive-force complaints are almost as common, Ramos said.

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider